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Customs uncovers import of narcotics arranged by Finnish and Polish citizens

Publication date 23.1.2017 9.00 | Published in English on 23.1.2017 at 9.01
Press release

Customs has uncovered an extensive smuggling organisation involving Finnish and Polish persons. During the lengthy preliminary investigation into the case, Customs cooperated with several European law enforcement and legal authorities. The cooperation resulted in persons being handed over to Finland based on European arrest warrants. Ten Finnish persons have also been heard as suspects in the case.

In summer 2015, customs officers at Vuosaari Harbour seized about 6 600 grams of amphetamine concealed inside a passenger car which arrived in Finland from Germany and which was registered in Poland. The preliminary investigation by Customs revealed that the smuggling was arranged by a Polish-Finnish criminal organisation active in several European countries.

The person delivering the drugs was given orders in the Hague, Netherlands to drive the passenger car containing the drugs to Finland. In addition to receiving a small fee, the driver was compensated for travel expenses and for the cost of the boat trip from Germany to Finland.

Seven kilos of amphetamine from amphetamine oil

The preliminary investigation by Finnish Customs also uncovered another drug smuggling operation arranged by the same criminal organisation. The organisation smuggled about 1 000 millilitres of amphetamine oil to Finland in August 2015. The oil was concealed inside a glass bottle that was smuggled in a passenger car via Denmark and Sweden to Finland through the northern land border. The amphetamine oil was used in the production of about seven kilograms of amphetamine in Finland.

A Finnish man from the western Uusimaa region is suspected of having been the main recipient and distributor of narcotics. The man is suspected of having concealed amphetamine in the terrain in western Uusimaa, among other locations, and of having distributed several consignments of narcotics to five persons at various locations in Finland.

Several suspects abroad

The series of offences investigated by Customs has involved aggravated narcotics offences, standard narcotics offences and firearms offences. Altogether 16 men and one woman were questioned as suspects. Most of the suspects were born in the late 1980s. The oldest suspect is 58 years of age.

The smuggling of narcotics was the responsibility of seven Polish persons whom the preliminary investigation by Finnish Customs focused on. Apart from the driver of the smuggling vehicle, the suspects were handed over to Finland based on European arrest warrants, as they are suspected of having partaken in the smuggling, production and distribution of narcotics.

During the preliminary investigation, Finnish Customs cooperated with authorities in Germany, Poland, France, Estonia and the Netherlands. Units of Europol, Eurojust and the Finnish Bureau of Investigation also cooperated.

The matter was processed several times by Helsinki District Court. The preliminary investigation by Customs was concluded in January 2017 for the part of the last person at large, and the matter was transferred to the Helsinki Prosecutors’ Office for consideration of charges.

For further information, please call the Customs Media Service on +358 295 527 150

Media release